TRENTON — For five innings Wednesday night, Thunder starter Dan Camarena looked as good as he had all season long.Then, the sixth inning happened.

A pair of two-run homers by the visiting New Hampshire Fisher Cats spoiled the left-hander’s shutout bid, and doomed his squad to a 8-2 defeat.

“When (the ball) is up, (Camarena) is going to get hit,” manager Tony Franklin said. “Most guys do. They hit Nolan Ryan when the ball got up. It’s a matter of figuring out how to keep the ball down in the strike zone.”

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It was the Thunder’s (60-70) fifth loss in a row, and ninth in their last ten games.

The only two Thunder runs of the evening came in the ninth inning. Center fielder Mason Williams — a touted prospect who has been suffering through a difficult season at the plate — laced an RBI triple to right center, and was then brought home by a Dan Fiorito single.

“When you get a couple of guys on in the last inning, you think ‘okay, here we go’,” Franklin said. “It could start to get interesting, so you never stop, and I like that about this ball club. They are a bunch of kids with good character.”

It was too little, too late.

Through five innings, Camarena was very solid if unspectacular. He’d given up just two hits, and had faced just 16 batters — just one more than the minimum.

“I liked what he was doing out there the first four or five innings,” Franklin said. “I thought he was good. I thought he was going to sail, and he could have.”

The home runs in the sixth, however, quickly changed the story. The first came courtesy of second baseman Andy Burns, and the second was from right fielder Brad Glenn.

“I’m not discouraged by his outing, though I’m sure he might be,” Franklin said.

In six innings of work, Camarena gave up the four runs on six hits, striking out two. New Hampshire starter P.J. Walters threw seven scoreless frames, giving up six hits and striking out six.

Any chance the struggling Thunder offense had of mounting a comeback more or less went out the window in the seventh, when reliever Francisco Rondon gave up a grand slam to third baseman Jon Berti.

Offensively, the Thunder were able to manage 10 hits — just as many as the Fisher Cats — but were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They managed just one run in the series-opening loss Tuesday night.

The Thunder will look to avoid the three-game sweep at 7:05 Thursday night.

“The most important day for us right now is tomorrow,” Franklin said.

— Follow Nick Peruffo on Twitter @nickperuffo

About the Author

Trentonian sportswriter and utility man. New York Jets, Princeton basketball, Mercer/Bucks county high schools, Trenton Thunder. Tulane grad. Former Times-Picayune and NFL.com intern. Reach the author at nperuffo@trentonian.com
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